Season series: This is the first of three meetings between the Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars. Last season, the Stars split the two games against Vancouver at home and took the lone meeting at Rogers Arena.

Big story: These teams are going in opposite directions. The Canucks are mired in a three-game winless streak, and the Stars are enjoying a season-best five-game road win streak. Dallas scored seven goals against the Calgary Flames on Thursday. That's the same number of goals Vancouver has scored in its past five games combined.

Team Scope:

Stars: Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin made strong cases for a spot on the Canada Olympic team in the 7-3 win against the Flames. Benn scored a goal and five assists in a career-high six-point game, and Seguin scored four goals for a personal best.

Dallas' top line benefited from the addition of rookie Valeri Nichushkin, who had two assists and was a plus-4. It marked the first multipoint game for the 18-year-old Russian, whose 6-foot-4 frame adds a physical dimension to a line that could not be stopped in Calgary.

Canucks: Jannik Hansen is expected back in the Vancouver lineup after missing 10 games with a shoulder injury. He skated at practice Saturday on a line with Ryan Kesler and Chris Higgins, allowing Alexandre Burrows to rejoin Henrik and Daniel Sedin on the top line.

Luongo sure doesn't seem like a goalie who will steal a game for the team at this point but I can't really fault him too much on that goal. My issue with the tenders is that Lack should be playing more than 4 out of 21 games